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Author Of Arizona Immigrant Law Elected Secretary Of State

Kris Kobach, a key architect of Arizona’s strict anti-illegal immigration law, has been elected Kansas Secretary of State, and will oversee the state’s Notaries and elections, among other duties.

Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a graduate of Harvard, Oxford and Yale Universities, has long championed efforts by state and local governments around the nation to crack down on illegal immigration.

He helped write the law in Arizona — since overturned by a federal court — that required immigrants to carry documentation that they were in the country legally and authorized police to determine the immigration status of foreign-born suspects.

Kobach also helped write or defend in court a number of measures adopted by local communities across the country — such as Valley Park, Missouri; Hazelton, Pennsylvania; and Farmers Branch, Texas — making it harder for businesses to hire undocumented immigrants and landlords to rent to them. Among the elements of some of the ordinances was the requirement that employers found in violation of their terms must submit notarized documentation in order to keep their business licenses. Most of the ordinances are embroiled in court challenges.